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Chicken alla Boscaiola is pasta and chicken with a creamy sauce of mushrooms, bacon, and Parmesan. Delicious comfort food!
My husband Jack knows me very well. This dish for Chicken alla Boscaiola was a new recipe for us when we first cooked it a few years ago. And as soon as Jack read the description for this classic Italian dish, he knew it was my kind of pasta. Boy, he was right!
What does “Boscaiola” mean?
Boscaiola translates to woodsman or wood cutter in Italian. Since mushrooms are typically foraged in the woods – and they are a prominent ingredient in this recipe – that likely inspired the name for this creamy and delicious mushroom and pasta dish.
Traditionally, Pasta alla Boscaiola combines Porcini mushrooms, pancetta, Parmesan cheese, and cream to create an earthy, smoky, creamy sauce.
But there are actually many variations of Pasta alla Boscaiola – some with tomatoes added, some with ham rather than pancetta, others vary the herbs used for flavor. We added chicken to our version and substituted bacon for the pancetta as that was what we had on hand – and that’s where our recipe name, Chicken alla Boscaiola, originated.
This Chicken alla Boscaiola is a creamy, flavorful and comforting dish and we hope you will enjoy it as much as we do!
Most of the prep for this Chicken alla Boscaiola is in chopping and measuring the ingredients. Much of that can be done ahead of time. It’s impressive enough to serve at a dinner party, but also makes a fantastic weeknight meal when you’re craving some delicious comfort food.
This post originally appeared on A Family Feast in December 2012. We’ve updated the post and photos, but the delicious recipe remains the same.
You may enjoy these other chicken recipes:
- Chicken Carbonara
- Chicken Scarpariello
- Chicken Parmesan
- Chicken & Penne with Basil Parmesan Cream Sauce
- Chicken Exquisito
We love seeing what you made! Tag us on Instagram at @afamilyfeast or hashtag #afamilyfeast so we can see your creations!
Chicken Boscaiola
Chicken alla Boscaiola is pasta and chicken with a creamy sauce of mushrooms, bacon, and Parmesan. Delicious comfort food!
Ingredients
1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-sized pieces
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
3 tablespoons butter, divided
1/2 pound bacon, chopped (about 8 slices)
1 1/2 cups baby Bella sliced mushrooms (about 4–5 ounces)
1 cup onions, diced
2 teaspoons fresh garlic, minced
2 tablespoons dry sherry
1 1/4 cups heavy cream
1 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 tablespoon fresh Italian flat-leaf parsley, chopped
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 pound fettuccine
Additional chopped, Italian flat-leaf parsley, for garnish
Instructions
- Place a large pot of water on to boil to cook the fettuccine in a later step.
- In a large sauté pan over medium high heat, combine 1 tablespoon each of olive oil and 1 tablespoon of butter until melted and frothy.
- Working in two batches, add in chicken and brown on all sides, about 3-4 minutes per batch. Do not over cook. Remove chicken to a flat plate to cool and stop the cooking process.
- Place the bacon in the same pan and cook until it is crisp. Remove to paper towels and reserve.
- Drain off all bacon fat but reserve two tablespoons, half of which gets used in next step.
- Put one tablespoon of bacon fat and one tablespoon of butter in the same pan and sauté mushrooms for 2-3 minutes or until they just start to give up their liquid. Remove from pan and set aside along with all of the pan drippings.
- Add the second tablespoon of bacon fat and butter into the pan and sauté onions and garlic until the onions are translucent, about 3-4 minutes.
- Add mushrooms and their liquid back into the pan with the onions, add the sherry and cook for one minute scraping any bits from the bottom.
- Add in cream, sour cream, salt, pepper, oregano, basil, parsley and Parmesan cheese. As mixture starts to bubble, reduce heat to medium and simmer 2 more minutes. The mixture will begin to thicken. Reduce heat to low.
- Salt the boiling water and cook fettuccine according to package directions. When draining reserve one cup of pasta water.
- Add cooked chicken and bacon back to sauce, turn heat to low to medium heat and stir.
- Add cooked fettuccine and cook for 1-2 minutes to blend flavors. If the dish is too thick, add a little pasta water until desired consistency is achieved.
- Serve with fresh parsley sprinkled over individual servings.
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Another excellent recipe! It was our Sunday dinner and everyone enjoyed it! I made it exactly as written. The rich flavors were superb!
Thank you so much!
You’re welcome Pam! Glad you enjoyed the recipe!
Hello Martha and Jack!
I do hope you and your family are well and safe from the virus. I hear a noreaster is coming your way , possibly today. No, I have not made this dish as of yet but you already know if it has garlic, I am in! Reminds me of a dish I used to enjoy at the Cheescake Factory but they added sun dried tomatoes. Looking forward to making this over the weekend . I hope you and your family have a wonderful Christmas and stay safe always. Blessings!
Hi Doris – Merry Christmas to you too! We’re hunkering down for the storm (although now we’re hearing it has shifted a bit north so we may end up with less snow along the coast here than original expected). Either way we’re ready!
Hope you enjoy the dish – and feel free to add more garlic! 🙂
I have never reviewed a recipe before, but this dish was that good I had to. I did not change a thing. My family of six absolutely loved it. Will make it again and again and again…
Thank you so much Melanie! We’re so glad you all enjoyed the recipe.
Definitely a keeper…rich and creamy and full of flavor. Hubs had seconds and raved over every bite.
So glad you both enjoyed the recipe Kathryn!
This recipe is EVERYTHING!!! All I can tell you is that you can’t go wrong making this for dinner!!! It’s to die for!!! ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️ 5 stars is NOT ENOUGH!!!
Thanks Jasmine! So glad you enjoyed it! 🙂
Just made for dinner a few hours ago. A MAJOR HIT!!!! My mother came over (a woman who always feels the need to tell everyone that she doesn’t like pasta), she had two servings!!!
I was a little worred about it at first because I used half and half instead of heavy cream, but it was so yummy! I also cut back on the whole pound of pasta, mainly because my friends tend to like things on the saucy side.
DELICIOUS!! Will definitely make again!
We’re so glad you enjoyed the recipe Shanee! Thanks for writing to us!
I made something very much like this recipe…I added some chopped spinach for color. It was a hit with my husband!!!!
I love the idea of adding spinach to this dish, Anne! Great suggestion! Thanks for visiting our site today!
Tried this last night, and my husband said it was one of his top 5 favorite meals that I have made. I used beef bacon instead of pork, and added the tomatoes from one can of diced tomatoes but left out the tomato juice. It was amazing. I started to feel guilty due to all the fat, but it ended up being scrumptious!! Will definitely make this again!
Thank you much for letting us know! I’m so glad you liked it!
DROOLING!!! I pinned this recipe but I wish you were making it for me to eat right now!
It’s a great recipe Meghan! (I’d have my husband cook it for both of us – if you only lived closer!) Thanks for stopping by!
Oh this looks divine!! Thanks for sharing… Pinned!